​We are asking our coastal communities to take part in a sewage-related marine debris survey with an emphasis on plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

Cotton Bud Marine Debris – Local problem, global issue

​Plastic cotton buds on beaches have a common source, your toilet. After flushing, cotton buds in sewage go out to sea, they float and wash up on the beach or break up and can end up in the stomachs of marine animals.

The Clean Ocean Foundation, together with Beach Patrol 3280, want to understand just how prevalent cotton bud marine pollution is in Australia and whether beaches found near sewage ocean outfalls are hot spots for these items.

​Although best efforts have been made to collate cotton bud pollution evidence from reports, researchers, litter databases and personal communication with beach clean groups and organizations, the national picture is not yet understood.

Limitations to current cotton bud data include:

Stems can be misidentified as lollipop sticks by untrained volunteers. Numbers could be significantly underestimated, or this litter source missed entirely where awareness is lacking.

Many beach clean-up activities and data collections in Australia occur on public beaches, with a focus on key litter items such as straws, cigarette butts, beverage containers and packaging. Beaches that are more likely to be impacted by sewage-related marine debris are generally less accessible and therefore do not receive the same attention from beach clean-ups.

Despite thousands of cotton buds collected and inputted each year on Australia’s leading data base, the AMDI, the cotton bud data presented maybe underestimated. This is because cotton buds fall under the category ‘Sanitary Items’ which includes all manner of sanitary items including wipes, nappies and condoms, so unless the volunteer specifically writes in the notes that they collected cotton buds then the numbers may not be registered.

Cotton Buds are a sewage debris litter item. The pathway that cotton buds travel to reach a beach is very different to that of street litter or beach litter. Many sewage outfalls have pipes leading kilometres out into the deep ocean and, therefore, the amount of cotton buds that are discharged into Australian waters have been widely dispersed and many may never reach the shore.

Misidentification: difference between a cotton bud and lollipop stick ​

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So why are cotton buds a problem?

Cotton Buds are harmful to marine animals. Researchers have found cotton bud fragments in seabirds and whole sticks in turtles. Like other plastics, once ingested the fragments may remain trapped in the digestive tract or cause damage (source: FIDRA).

Cotton bud plastic fragments efficiently adsorb Persistent Organic Pollutants while at sea, Polypropylene (commonly used in the production of cotton buds) is particularly effective at concentrating certain pollutants, associating buds with even more toxic chemicals (source: FIDRA).

Where have cotton buds already been identified as a problem in Australia?

​Beach clean-up volunteers in Warrnambool have collected over two years of marine debris data through their weekly beach clean-up monitoring program. This has helped them identify Cotton Buds as one of their top marine problem litter items. Volunteers have collected over 18,000 cotton buds off Shelly Beach alone. Shelly Beach is situated 500m west of Warrnambool’s sewage ocean outfall. Cotton bud marine pollution has been linked to their local sewage ocean outfall and to consumers inappropriately flushing cotton buds down the toilet.

Warrnambool is not the only coastal area impacted by cotton bud marine pollution. According to the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, an estimated 60% of sanitary (sewage-related) items found on beaches in Australia are cotton bud stems. Thousands of buds are recorded each year in their surveys.

Throughout the world cotton buds are often listed in the top 5-10 marine debris items most commonly found on the beach.

​So how do you stop cotton bud pollution? Can people be persuaded to stop flushing cotton buds down the toilet? Could sewage plants filter out plastic-stemmed cotton buds? The solution requires consumers, industry and government working together, but first let’s just see how big Australia’s cotton bud pollution is.

​Learn more about Cotton Bud Marine Pollution:

The Cotton Bud Project based in Scotland is working with industry to encourage a switch from plastic for paper.

The Switch The Stickcampaign based in the UK has been successful in lobbying major UK retailers to stock only paper-stemmed cotton buds

The WFF-Australia has listed cotton buds in Australia’s worst top 10 single-use plastics. They currently have a petition to sign asking our Australian politicians to phase out the 10 worst single-use plastics.

How can you help reduce cotton bud marine debris

Collect marine debris data off your local beach and submit it to the AMDI. This data is instrumental in building a case for better wastewater treatment and lobbying our government to phase out single-use plastics. In the AMDI, cotton buds can be found under ‘Other Materials’, ‘Sanitary Items’ make sure you write in the notes the number of cotton buds that you collected.

Sign the WFF ‘plastics campaign’ that asks the Australian Government to ban single-use plastics, including cotton buds.

Change your consumer habits. Look for alternatives to plastic stemmed cotton buds such as recycled cardboard cotton buds. There are now cheap alternatives to plastic-stemmed cotton buds on the shelves at most retail outlets.